Current Events

Jury instruction error could result in less prison time for Akron man convicted of murder

An error in the instructions given to a Summit County jury could result in less prison time for an Akron man convicted of murder.

The instructions didn’t make it clear that jurors — in order to find Kennae Baker guilty of aggravated murder in the shooting death of another man — had to find that he did so while committing another crime. In this case, the crime was aggravated burglary...

Why Pennsylvania jury duty pays $9 per day

For two years in a row, Melissa Correll has been called for jury duty in Philadelphia. The librarian at Arcadia University wound up not being picked for a trial either time. But the Germantown resident was compensated for waiting around for the better part of two days...

Meet the woman in charge of giving you jury duty

TWIN FALLS — It might be one of the most dreaded envelopes to receive in the mail.

“Dear Citizen,” it begins. “Welcome to jury service.”

While taking time off work or interrupting other daily activities to sit in a courtroom for jury selection and, possibly, a multi-day trial, is inconvenient, Twin Falls County jury commissioner Jerry Woolley pointed out how, next to military service, jury duty is key to the American way of life...

A Michigan man who was sent to prison for 14 years after being convicted on gun charges, will get a new trial after the state Supreme Court ruled that the original trial jury was coerced into their verdict by the trial judge.

Missouri law excuses people age 75 and older from jury duty

Older Missouri residents soon will be able to get out of jury duty, if they so choose.Legislation signed Tuesday by Gov. Mike Parson will allow anyone age 75 or older to ask a court to be excused from jury duty. The judge will have to grant the request...

SAN JOSE — A federal jury has found that two San Jose police officers used excessive force when they fatally shot Anthony Nunez as he experienced a suicidal breakdown in front of his East San Jose home three years ago.The verdict announced Tuesday by a six-member jury panel also recommended a $2.6 million award to Nunez’s estate, represented by Sandy Sanchez, the aunt who raised Nunez from childhood to when he died at age 18 on July 4, 2016...

Supreme Court Reaffirms Rule Against Racial Bias in Jury Selection

WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Friday reaffirmed its strict prohibition against racial bias in jury selection, voting to overturn a black defendant’s murder conviction in Mississippi after a white prosecutor dismissed 41 of 42 African Americans possible jurors over the course of six trials for the same crimes...

FREEHOLD - The verdict in a criminal case surrounding 13 rare gold certificates worth more than $3.5 million might boil down to a childhood saying: Finders keepers.Or at least that's what the defense attorneys want the jury to decide as they started deliberating Thursday the case of two men accused of stealing and selling the antique money found six years ago in an Asbury Park home...

Jury can’t decide on charges against Arizona border activist

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A U.S. jury could not reach a verdict Tuesday against a border activist charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants in a trial that humanitarian aid groups said would have wide implications on their work.Defense attorneys argued that Scott Daniel Warren, a 36-year-old college geography instructor, was simply being kind by providing two migrants with water, food and lodging when he was arrested in early 2018. He faced up to 20 years in prison...

District Attorney warns of Berks jury duty scam

The Berks County District Attorney’s Office has received several complaints of what is being identified as a “Jury Duty” Scam. According to the District Attorney's Office, victims will receive a call from unknown person/s claiming to be with the Sheriff’s Office. Victims are being told they failed to appear for Jury Duty and must now report to the courthouse...

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Jury trials in East Baton Rouge Parish resume Tuesday, May 28, after the Louisiana Supreme Court suspended them in April of 2019.Attorneys defending accused cop-killer Grover Cannon pointed out Louisianians born after June 2, 1993 were excluded from jury selection. The 19th Judicial District Court admitted a computer glitch that has been going on since 2011 was the cause. That admission raised flags in Louisiana’s High Court...

A California jury has awarded a couple more than $2 billion in a verdict against Monsanto, a subsidiary of Bayer. This is the third recent court decision involving claims that the company's Roundup weed killer caused cancer.The jury in Alameda County, just east of San Francisco, ruled that the couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, Calif., contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma because of their use of the glyphosate-based herbicide. They were each awarded $1 billion in punitive damages and an additional $55 million in collective compensatory damages...

SUNBURY — Two “sovereign citizens” who have been sitting in the Northumberland County Prison for seven months, refusing to be fingerprinted or sign paperwork, are headed to trial.Despite their claims that they’re not subject to any laws, A jury was selected Monday for the trial that’s slated to begin Wednesday in county court...

Jury in Armstrong trial asks judge about breaking deadlocks

HOUSTON - The jury which will decide the fate of a teen accused of killing his parents nearly three years ago seemed to be having trouble reaching a verdict when they resumed their deliberations Thursday.A.J. Armstrong, 19, is accused of killing his parents in July 2016...

A ‘Glitch’ Left Young People Off the Jury Rolls. Does That Violate the Constitution?

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisianans who were summoned to decide whether Grover Cannon killed a police officer were Asian, black, Hispanic and white. They were caregivers and engineers, state workers and self-employed.But Adrienne Harreveld, a law student working for the defense team in Mr. Cannon’s death penalty trial, noticed something else: In a city with one of the South’s largest public universities, not one member of last month’s jury pool in East Baton Rouge Parish seemed all that young...

Jury recommends death penalty for Michael Bargo

A jury on Tuesday unanimously recommended Michael Shane Bargo be put to death for the murder of Seath Jackson.At 5:05 p.m., nearly five hours after they began their deliberation, the seven women and five men let bailiffs know they had reached a decision.After instructing those inside the courtroom — family members of both Bargo and Seath — to be respectful of the jury’s decision, Circuit Judge Anthony Tatti called for the jurors at 5:15 p.m. Three minutes later, the recommendation was read aloud. Bargo’s head was bowed...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A 19-year-old juror has filed a lawsuit against a Mercedes-Benz dealership for firing him in the midst of jury service. Zach White is a 2018 high school graduate and had been working as a valet driver at the Mercedes-Benz of The Woodlands since last fall. "I really enjoyed working there, driving a Mercedes every day, it was cool," said White. White, whose father is a local police detective, says he long had the values of public service instilled upon him. He even plans on joining the military after college. When he was called to jury duty in February, there was never much doubt he would show up...

Prosecutor: Grand jury in Russia probe ‘continuing robustly’

WASHINGTON — A grand jury that was involved in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation is "continuing robustly," a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.The prosecutor, David Goodhand, made the revelation during a hearing over whether court filings in the Mueller probe should be unsealed related to an unidentified foreign corporation that had refused to turn over documents to the special counsel...

A Supreme Court case on jury bias prompts a rare question from Thomas

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court seemed deeply troubled Wednesday about the actions of a Mississippi prosecutor who has tried an African American man six times for a quadruple murder and has blocked the vast majority of black potential jurors.The hour-long argument brought a surprise: a question by Justice Clarence Thomas, and one that went in an opposite direction. He inquired about the race of jurors dismissed by defense lawyers for Curtis Flowers, drawing out the information that they were white...

The five jury strikes that could decide Curtis Flowers’ fate

The fate of Curtis Flowers may well hinge on how the U.S. Supreme Court views the removal of a handful of African-Americans from jury selection at his 2010 trial.The key issue is whether the prosecutor in the case, Doug Evans, violated Flowers' rights by dismissing black jurors because of their race, which is unconstitutional...

Black woman added to jury over protests by officer’s lawyer

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge in the case of a white western Pennsylvania police officer accused of shooting to death a black teenager last year put a black woman on the jury Tuesday over the defense’s objections but said he will reconsider the decision...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning appeared in Alexandria federal court Tuesday to unsuccessfully fight a subpoena requiring her to testify in front of a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Outside the courthouse after an hour-long closed hearing, Manning said her motion to quash the subpoena was denied but her team believes they "still have grounds to litigate." She would not go into detail because Judge Claude Hilton also blocked her bid to unseal the proceedings. But she said she was "probably going to be" at the courthouse multiple times in coming days...

El Chapo Trial: Did the Jury Engage in Misconduct?

In a typical case, after a defendant’s conviction, the criminal process slows down as both sides prepare for sentencing or the defense prepares an appeal. But the prosecution of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug capo known as El Chapo, has never been a typical case...

When Does Kicking Black People Off Juries Cross a Constitutional Line?

WASHINGTON — Doug Evans, a white state prosecutor in Mississippi, has worked hard to keep black people off the juries that have heard his case against Curtis Flowers, who has been tried six times — yes, six times — for the 1996 murders of four people inside a furniture store in Winona, Miss...

Notorious drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman convicted

Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was convicted Tuesday of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel...

Here’s why it’s taking so long for El Chapo’s jury to reach a verdict

BROOKLYN, New York — Jurors in the trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán sat through nearly three months of damning testimony and heard just 30 minutes from the only witness called by the defense. But as of Wednesday, after a day and a half of deliberations, they still haven’t made up their minds about whether he ought to be convicted or acquitted...

Fate of Mexican drug lord El Chapo now rests with US jury

NEW YORK (AP) — After nearly three months of testimony about a vast drug-smuggling conspiracy steeped in violence, a jury began deliberations Monday at the U.S. trial of the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman...

Fatal shooting case against officer heads to grand jury

NASHVILLE — The case against a white Nashville police officer in the fatal shooting of a black man went to a grand jury Monday, a step punctuated by days of heated rhetoric by the attorneys.

A Nashville judge found probable cause to send officer Andrew Delke’s case to the grand jury. Delke is charged in the July shooting of 25-year-old Daniel Hambrick, who had a handgun as he ran from the officer...

Want to help make government better? Try signing up for Sacramento County grand jury

The panel gleaned from a cross-section of Sacramento County is charged with reviewing and investigating local governmental activities within the county, from city and county government to schools and special districts...

Iowans can now complete jury questionnaires online

Jury duty scam threatens arrest unless you pay up

A St. Clair Shores man was recently duped out of $1,000 through a scam in which a caller representing himself as a Macomb County sheriff’s deputy threatened to arrest him unless he paid fines for missing jury duty…